Keach, Carbone lead Exeter into Division I meet

The Exeter High School boys track and field team fell short in its quest for a four-peat at the Seacoast Championships last week. Next, it will take its best crack at a much bigger prize.

STAFF REPORTS

The Exeter High School boys track and field team fell short in its quest for a four-peat at the Seacoast Championships last week. Next, it will take its best crack at a much bigger prize.

The Blue Hawks, undefeated in their Seacoast dual meets this season, will be among the top contenders at today's NHIAA Division I track and field championships to be held at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton.

The Hawks will have their hands full with defending champion Nashua North — the 2013 league champion in a runaway — and other southern powers like Pinkerton and Bedford.

Exeter will feature some of the state's top athletes in its own right. Senior thrower Brendan Keach is seeded second in the discus and fourth in the shot put, and sophomore Justin Carbone will take No. 2 seeds into both the 1,600- and 3,200-meter run events.

"Overall we have some really strong kids," said junior Mitch Herrington, Exeter's No. 8 seed in the javelin, during a dual meet with Winnacunnet this spring. "We have some good throwers. We have Keach ... he really pulls it out for us, especially in the disc and shot. We just have an overall good team. We work hard. We come out here every day and we just go at it."

Exeter's girls team will feature two top seeds, starting with star distance runner Shannon Murdock. The junior ranks first in both the 1,600 meters and 3,200 meters, and she's second only to Bishop Guertin's Molly McCabe in the 800-meter run.

Murdock was the league's only runner to crack 5:08 in the mile — shattering that mark with a time of 4:54.0. Murdock's seed time of 11:12.4 in the two mile is 7.6 seconds faster than second-seed Morgan Sansing of Pinkerton.

The Exeter girls have another top seed in sprinter Sydney Petersen. She ranks first in the 100-meter dash with a seed time of 12.4 seconds. Petersen also ranks fifth in the 200 meters and seventh in the 400.

Exeter's Maddie Lasewicz is seeded fourth in the 300-meter hurdles and Melanie Lamar is seeded fifth in the discus throw. Junior Elise Leavitt is another Exeter athlete to watch after ranking among the team's top point scorers in meets this season; she'll compete in both hurdle events.

Christian Leefmans has been a key scorer for the Exeter boys and is ranked fourth in the 400-meter dash and seventh in the 300-meter hurdles. John Beauregard will take the No. 7 seed into the triple jump for the Hawks.

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